Understandably, most consumers are not extremely familiar with website technology. The following 5 questions & answers will provide you with a level of information to help you pursue a web site design for your business or organization. Just a basic understanding can help you best utilize your time and avoid costly errors in "Going Live" with your business on the worldwide web.
 

1. What do I need to do to get a web site designed, & up and running (on the world wide web) for my business? 

First of all, hire a knowledgeable, reputable website designer - who can handle all aspects of getting your design on-line.  There is an expanse number of "webpage designers," with a wide variety of quality and pricing.  Take your time and investigate the alternatives.  You are making a decision that can greatly enhance your business (or potentially detract from your business success if you don't choose wisely).  If a designer can't provide you with a solid background and a number of reference websites that you can view for yourself on the web, "Buyer Beware."  Please, note that there has been a significant amount of instability (companies going out of business) in the web design/hosting industry, so this is a very important step.

2. What level of skills are needed to design a website?

Relatively speaking, the complexity of programming needed to design, program and host a site is about 50 times the complexity of designing a newsletter or marketing brochure. We do not use pre-fabricated designs or templates that cannot realistically showcase your business offerings.  Website designs can be formatted for us to update, or for your company to update and revise as per your on-going business needs.  Websites are time consuming to create, and the entire breadth of the project is dependant upon the specific design requirements. We utilize comprehensive programming and numerous robust software applications to provide you with an excellent result.  Each website page is comprised of multiple program files that are precisely designed to look good for all viewers to your website.  For example, viewers may have different computer monitor sizes, ages of computers, software programs (Browsers), etc that they use when they look at your site.  We perfect your web page design for these varied scenarios. The realistic and worthwhile payoff to your company can be enhanced business success.

3. What are the fundamental services I pay for to get a website up and running?
 

Basically, you need 3 elements, and a quality designer can and should provide all of them to you as a service:
Web design - The actual programming, text content, graphics, pictures, etc that formulate the appearance and content of what is seen on your site (to a viewer of the site). Additionally we strive to formulate a design to elevate your site within search engine ranking.
Web site (Domain) Name - "www.yourcompany.com" is an example. It is the actual internet address of your site, so that viewers can type it into an internet address bar and find you. 
Web site Hosting - This is the computer service that actually projects your site onto the worldwide web, so that by typing in your website (domain) name, an viewer can then see your Web Design (Website). 

In most cases, website cost is a factor of: how many website pages comprise your design, how many photos or  graphics are included, how much actual text content, and what e-commerce or special functions / options you need. Special functionality may include, for example, database integration, password client log-in, SSL encryption, etc. We take the approach to provide a  comprehensive, but cost-streamlined website to you.  We can work with you within a specified budget. In order to provide the most cost-effective solution, we do not charge by the hour for the initial website design; but provide an overall project cost. After the website design is completed, you may choose to request updates (updates are usually billed by the hour) to some of the content on your site on occasion (ie, changes in services or products offered); for which some additional cost is charged for these updates.  Website designs can be formatted for us to update, or for your company to update and revise as per your on-going business needs. We also attempt to design your site to make updates simple and cost effective. Your enhanced business success can potentially pay for this service many times over.

We do not recommend that you buy for yourself a Domain Name or Web Hosting (either by themselves or in a package).  Companies advertise selling these directly to you on TV, but they may not be accountable to selling you a domain name or hosting package that is appropriate for your website (ie, one that is compatible with your needs,  or one that allows for the amount of customer "traffic," on your site that you will require).  You very well may make an error   and buy one that will not work; or worse yet, buy one from a company that will not "transfer" it for you when you are ready to put your design on the worldwide web.  If this is the case, you may have just wasted the money you spent. 

We act as consultant to you, and help you select a domain name and hosting package that will fit your website and e-commerce needs.

Relative to avoiding "E-cons" we advise pre-caution when dealing with any service or product sold over the internet, where the vendor does not answer their phone, or respond to phone messages or emails in an expedient timeframe.  If you are using a credit card to purchase a product or service over the internet, make sure that secure on-line encryption is being utilized to protect your credit card information from being stolen: A SSL pop-up box will appear as you open the website page that requests your credit card info, or you will see a gold lock or gold key on the lower right hand side of your taskbar monitor screen on the website page that requests your credit card info.  The SSL pop up box, or gold lock/key should be visible BEFORE you enter any credit card information.